Kannagi

Kannagi’s story is one of the most glorified one in Central Tamil Nadu, depicted in ‘Chilappathikaram’ by Elango Adikal. Kovalan, the son of a wealthy merchant in Kaveripattinam, married Kannagi, the lovely daughter of another merchant. They lived together happily in the city of Kaveripoompattanam. Some days after their marriage, Kovalan was lured by the curves of a palace dancer, Madhavi, and left Kannagi to live with Madhavi. A desperate Kannagi lived alone. In his infatuation Kovalan forgot Kannagi and gradually spent all his wealth on the dancer. At last, penniless, Kovalan realised his mistake, and returned to Kannagi. Their only asset was a precious pair of anklets (Cilambu— hence the name of the epic), filled with gems, which she gave to him willingly. Kannagi happily accepted him and they set out to Madhurai in search of a livelihood.

In Madhurai Kovalan faced the false accusation of stealing queen’s jewel and was sentenced to death by the then Pandian king, Nedunchuzhiyan. He was trying to sell Kannagi’s anklets and the king’s men alleged that they were that of the queen. Subsequently, Kovalan was killed by the guards. Kannagi, in a berserk mood came to King’s court and proved her husband’s innocence. She broke open the anklets seized from Kovalan and showed it contained gems, but the queen’s anklets contained pearls. The king and queen was so moved and they died heart broken out of shame. Kannagi was unsatisfied, she tore open one of her breasts, threw it away to the city wall, uttering a curse that the entire city be burnt, where only animals and good people remain unhurt – thus talk the legends.

Here is the link of Indian mythology, history and philosophy to the purity, sanctity and to use the most Indian word for this context, chastity of women. The word and curse of a chaste woman was so powerful and was glorified in all the epics. Kannagi, it was said, left to western mountains and people started worshiping her as a part of ‘Shakthi or ‘Kali’.

Since then Kanagi was a symbol of female dignity and empowerment in a society which categorically gave low level of self esteem and rights to the fairer sex, even though historically this approach was proved right for the establishment of a disciplined society. There are lot of interesting debates over the Kannagi story. Mudhuvans (Adivasis located in the mountain west of Pollachi) worship her and Kannagi is a part of their rituals, and she symbolised unstoppable female power. In the new age, in Chennai’s famous Marina Beach, there was a four feet Kannagi statue, in bronze facing the sea, pointing her raised arm towards the horizon. The statue was removed in 2001 for some unknown reasons. Since then it was a political controversy. As the statue was originally set by one old DMK ministry, the then chief Minister Jayalalithaa was not willing to re establish it to the old position. This was a big issue in the State Assembly and Karunanidhi demanded its restoration. An arrogant Jayalalithaa was not willing for this, she ordered to widen the adjacent road in the guise of traffic congestion and put the statue inside a museum. Thus it became a matter of pride for the Dravidian parties of TN and the issue found a place in the election manifesto of DMK during last polls. After its election victory, one of the first moves of Karunanidhi was to keep the promise, the restoration of old heroine to her dais, Kannagi once again proved unstoppable.

Kannagi as an idol has to be discussed. She symbolises the Indian womanhood which silently accepts her husband’s extramarital affairs. Kannagi or Kannaki Amman is eulogized as the epitome of chastity and is still being worshiped as a Goddess. She is praised for her extreme devotion to her husband, in spite of his adulterous behaviour. She is worshiped as Goddess Pathinii in Sri Lankaa by the Sinhalesee Buddhists as well, and as Kannaki Amman by the Sri lankan Tamils Hindus. She is blind towards the injustice done on her by her husband, but at a later point of time fought fiercely when justice was denied to the same person. Thus she epitomes the sacrifice and acceptance of  Indian women folk. But she was revengeful, in a blasting mood she blazed one whole city though the ruler admitted his wrong. At a mythical level burning of a city was an act of purification. The act of the Pandian king also has to be absorbed in today’s context, how many of our rulers be brave enough for this? The morals and values from the story has to be learnt in the right spirit.

(Courtsey for thought : Eric Miller, ‘In Praise of Citizen Kannagi’, ‘The Hindu’ Op-Ed dated 16 June, 2006)